Rian Johnson considered bringing back Anakin Skywalker for The Last Jedi

Also, Mark Hamill reveals why he wasn’t in the Star Wars Holiday Special, and how did we miss Baby Yoda in Revenge of the Sith?

To this day, The Last Jedi remains probably the most controversial movie in the Star Wars saga, eclipsed possibly only by follow-up The Rise of Skywalker. People had a lot of issues with the movie when it came out back in 2017. Would an appearance from Anakin Skywalker, the man who would become Darth Vader, have helped matters?

There’s no way to know now, but on Twitter, director Rian Johnson revealed that he did consider bringing Anakin back for the film, to appear as a Force ghost alongside Yoda in the scene where Yoda burns down the tree containing the sacred Jedi texts.

That would mean bringing back actor Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, which used to be the most controversial Star Wars movies into the sequels came along and took some of the pressure off.

George Lucas himself worked Anakin into a remastered edition of The Return of the Jedi, so there would have been precedent for it. And frankly, with all the Star Wars TV shows on the way, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see Christensen back in the role in some form or another eventually — flashback, Force ghost, etc.

Some fans are taking the reverse route, editing characters from the Star Wars TV shows into the old movies. For example, on the most recent episode of The Mandalorian, “The Jedi,” we learned that Baby Yoda had been raised on the Jedi temple on Coruscant, the same temple where Anakin slaughtered younglings in Revenge of the Sith. I can’t believe we never noticed Baby Yoda in the background before…

Thank goodness he got out so he could scarf down space cookies and make a new home in all of our hearts.

In other Star Wars news, Mark Hamill recently revealed why he didn’t return to voice Luke Skywalker in the recently released, very goofy, LEGO-themed Star Wars Holiday Special:

Two excellent reasons.

And finally, Anthony Daniels — who has played the droid C-3PO for over 40 years now — now Entertainment Weekly about the original, much weirder and more awkward holiday special from 1978. “This thing was meant to be a happy Life Day, then we’re in this giant set draped with black, it was just awful,” he recalled. “It was like being at a weird funeral, you have to watch it on YouTube for the full horror. Watch the last 10 minutes, and you’ll see why [the new show] contrasts rather well and is rather fun. Poor Mark, poor Carrie, poor Harrison – you can see it on their faces! They’re gritting their teeth and it shows; they’re like hanging onto each other. I think people learn their lesson, and I think we may be on track to make a regular Life Day holiday special, and why not?”

Watch it you dare:

“Until I choose to retire, I would not be comfortable with [somebody else playing the character] because it wouldn’t be Threepio as I have known him for 40-something years,” Daniels continued. “I don’t want that to happen while I’m still cognizant and able to do it because — and this is not me aggrandizing myself — he’s the way he is and he’s the way he is is because of me. And if I’m around, that’s the way it should stay. Eventually, I will leave this planet, and I want him to go on and somebody will take over as that’s the nature of show business. I would not like him to disappear from the galaxy, even though I have.”

You can watch the Star Wars Holiday Special (and every other Star Wars thing) now on Disney+!

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels